Kumoricon 2011 Breakdown

Whew, we’re back, and I’m not talking about that little server meltdown, though thank you everyone for sticking with us during that incident. Trust me, it came completely out of left field. No, I’m talking about being back from Kumoricon 2011. And I have to say, it was a surprisingly fun show. I should mention that this is the first time I’ve officially been to a con officially as my official Dubious Company self…er…officially. Almost all the other times have been Tria representing herself, and I just handed her DBC stuff when I met up with her, then went off and do fun con things. But this time I was flying solo, in the sense that I lent half my table in Artist’s Alley to Jake from Modest Medusa (because I owe that man more favors than I can count). Since this was my first time running a table I asked Jake, “What’s it going to be like? What should I prep for?”

Jake responded, “Oh man, Ben,” that’s my real name, Ben, “Oh man, Ben. Get ready to be bored out of your skull.” And so I did, I brought my PSP, I brought my DS, I brought my trusty notebook and pens. I was all ready for a dull day full of scribbling plot notes and playing Final Fantasy IV. Boy were we surprised. We could afford, at most, one of us to sit down for maybe five or ten minutes at a time. Otherwise we were both up and talking with con goers, or handing out free stuff (cheap sample comics, like the first fifteen pages of DBC, so nothing you guys would miss), in one case I met a pack of fellow Bronies and had a 30 minute squeefest. It was completely awesome. And that was just the first day at the convention.

Day Two was more of the same, only now we had the panel hanging over our heads. Honestly, neither Jake nor I were expecting much. We were scheduled to start about half an hour before Masquerade (you know, right when everyone is lining up for the event). Competing with the most popular event at a convention usually bodes ill for attendance to your panel. At most we were expecting a few of Jake’s students to show up, and we’d end up playing a quick game of whatever before heading back down to our table in Artist Alley.

When we arrived, there were a few people waiting for us, and by about five minutes before we were scheduled to start we’d gotten about half the room full (to our surprise and delight). So we both figure that this is about as good as it’s going to get and we start the panel. And I talk a bit about Dubious Company, and Jake talks a bit about Modest Medusa, and the five minutes pass, and people suddenly start coming into the room. It was amazing, by the time the 5:30 hit (when we were supposed to actually start) there were maybe five or six seats left in the room. It was glorious, I was amazed and ecstatic. Jake and I answered as many questions as we could about the creation of webcomics (mostly about marketing them actually) and we actually ran over by about half an hour. I wish you all could have been there, and for those readers that were there, thank you for making the panel a joy to present.

The only downside to the panel was the whole thing left Jake and I completely wiped for the final day of the convention. It’s a good thing user Akiko showed up. Seriously, she stopped by right after we opened (and I’m pretty sure she was front row for the whole panel). At first she just chatted but as more people stopped by the table, Jake and I found out she was better at selling our products than we were. So not only is she good conversation, but she’s a great booth babe (unofficially). She also has a great blog you guys should check out here. Fan Audrea also stopped by to show off some of her art. Those figurines are freaking awesome FYI. But those two really helped keep our energy up, and in Akiko’s case, just um…took over our jobs (I paid her via a T-shirt, don’t worry).

All and all it was a great show. The only other thing I have left to say is to give a shout out to our friendly neighbors in Artist’s Alley. The folks next to us did some brisk business selling keychains and stickers. They kindly donated balloon animals to us, and keep up good times with good tunes. Oh and they let me buy a Twilight Sparkle keychain on the cheap (I got the last one HA HA HA!). The booth across from us mostly sold fan badges, but she also has a great comic called Mahou Shounen. I managed to trade her a copy of her comic for a copy of Evil Tower of Evil. Oh, and I bought a Derpy Hooves badge from her. Which I wear proudly.

So overall, super successful convention. Thanks to everyone that supported us, and to everyone that found the site from Kumoricon. Oh, and if you haven’t figured it out, I’m a Brony.

PS: Anyone in the Seattle area? Jake and I are going to be at Jet City on Sept 24th.

-TagalongDT